Why Authenticity Will Prove to Be Your Best Marketing Strategy This Year

The ball has dropped, the corks have popped, and a new year is upon us.  Just as celebratory confetti has cleared the streets of Times Square, 2014 has graciously bowed out, leaving 2015 to take center stage.

And for small business owners like you and me, you probably have a list of things you’re going to do differently this year.  Aside from the customary vows to “whittle down our middle” and cut back on caffeine, we’ve finally figured out what’s in the secret sauce of savory marketing.  And this year, we’re going to glob it on. But even the best sauces fall short without  – salt.

What does “salt” have to do with authenticity?  Everything.

Of course, I’m not referring to the salt in your stew or on the rim of a margarita glass.

This salt resides in you.  It’s the essence of what makes you who are – the real person hiding behind the shell of conformity that tells you it’s safer to maintain the status quo.

But the problem with status quo in a culture that thrives on effervescent social interaction is that it just doesn’t work anymore.

The target audiences of yesterday have fractured even further, now consisting of multiple layers of wants and needs, and an overwhelming thirst for genuine connection.  These audiences are filled with your clients who crave messages they can relate to.

So think of authenticity as the metaphorical Gatorade that quenches that thirst time and time again.

In fact, so great is the demand for “keeping it real,” that CEOs now pose in popular magazine ads in blue jeans, heads of million dollar social media networks report to work in hoodies, and Fortune 100 companies hire average everyday folks with day jobs to head up their Snapchat marketing campaigns.

Authenticity, in a real sense…

…is the act of not losing yourself in your business or anyone else’s definition of what your business should look like. It’s building your business and its culture around who you are, what you do, and the people you do it for and creating marketing that tells that story in vivid detail.

As a caution, being authentic isn’t an excuse to be lazy or unprofessional.  But the pursuit of it does give you permission to build a brand that is human, and that’s something we can all relate to.